The Scrub, Central Avenue, and surrounding blocks, including Cass Street just north of downtown, became Tampa’s first African American neighborhood. Johnnie Mandese’s Service shop opened at 1214 East Cass Street in 1948 on the district’s edge. Several Scrub homes can be seen behind his shop in the photo. Starting in the 1950s, much of the neighborhood was razed in the name of urban renewal, and by 1970, the once vibrant Central Avenue district was gone.

In 2006, the city adopted the Central Park Community Redevelopment Plan, which envisioned a mixed-use, mixed-income, pedestrian-friendly development called Encore Tampa. The plan was to construct over 2,000 residential units and 50,000 square feet of retail space and restore a small red brick church in the center of the development. While it is an ongoing project, significant progress has been made in replacing the buildings and the spirit of the Scrub. Pictured here is a perimeter wall surrounding a maintenance area for Tampa Encore. Any similarity to Mandese’s original block façade is most likely coincidental.  

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